NFL Rumors: Will Matt Ryan Get an Extension from Atlanta Falcons Soon?

By Christopher Gamble

Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

There might be plenty of NFL rumors floating around Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan this off-season if he continues to play at the level he has displayed through the first five weeks of the NFL season.

Those NFL rumors will be focusing on a possible extension for the fifth-year quarterback who will be entering the final year of his six-year, $63.7 million deal next year. Ryan has been as good or better this season than Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, and hosts of others.

So far this season, Ryan owns a 106.1 QB rating, which is just ridiculous. He has thrown for 1,507 yards, 13 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions while keeping the Falcons unbeaten as they enter their Week 6 matchup against theOakland Raiders.

Would it be prudent for the Falcons to start talking extension? Consider that Drew Brees signed a five-year, $100 million deal this past off-season at the age of 33. Peyton Manning was signed to a 5-year, $96 million deal this past off-season and is now 36-years-old. That is a lot of money to quarterbacks over 30.

Matt Ryan is only 27 and Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff knows Ryan is the quarterback of the present and future in Atlanta. He wants Ryan to stick around and why wouldn’t he?

What will make any discussions interesting is Ryan is also represented by Tom Condon, the same agent Brees and Manning have so I would expect that Condon would be asking the Falcons for a payday similar to what Brees and Manning received.

By comparison, Eli Manning was made the highest paid quarterback in the NFL by the New York Giants in 2009. Of course, Eli had already won a Super Bowl and Ryan has yet to win a playoff game. However, the two are very similar in how they lead a football team and both have a lot of good football ahead of them. I would expect Ryan to at least get something in the six-year, $97.5 million range that Eli received.

I don’t expect anything to get done during the season but this off-season should be an interesting one for Ryan and the Falcons, especially if the Falcons contend for a Super Bowl.